Latest news with #DominicCummings
Sky News
a day ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Whitehall officials tried to convince Lord Gove to cover up grooming scandal, he tells Sky News
Whitehall officials tried to convince Lord Michael Gove to go to court to cover up details of a report into the grooming scandal in 2011, he has said, confirming Sky News reporting earlier this week. Speaking to Sky's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, the former senior cabinet minister said it is "undoubtedly the case that more should have been done" to prevent the abuse of young girls in Britain, admitting that it weighs on him. The allegations of an attempted cover-up were first made to Sky News by former Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings in an interview with Sky News, and the claims were substantiated by other sources as well. Mr Cummings was working for Lord Gove, who was then education secretary. Lord Gove explained that in 2011, he learned that the late Times journalist Andrew Norfolk, who he described as "a heroic reporter who did more than anyone to initially uncover this scandal", was seeking to publish details of a report from Rotherham Council about the abuse and grooming of young girls. He said: "Rotherham Council wanted to stop that happening. They wanted to go to court to prevent him publishing some details, and we in the Department for Education were asked by the council, 'would we join in, would we be a party to that court action to stop it?' "And I had to look at the case, advised by Dominic [Cummings] and by others, and there were some within the department, some officials who said, 'be cautious, don't allow this to be published, there may be risks for relatives of the victims concerned." 1:56 Rotherham Council also argued that publication may pose "risks" to the process of "improving in the way in which it handles" grooming cases, he continued. The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times' publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain. But Lord Gove said: "My view at the time, advised by Dominic and by others within the department, was that it was definitely better for it to be published." "So we said to Rotherham, we will join the case, but we're joining it on the side of the Times and Andrew Norfolk because we believe in transparency." 1:11 'Tough questions' for Whitehall Lord Gove went on to say that a national inquiry could see some "tough questions" asked of the Home Office about its culture and its interactions with the police. But those questions will also be posed to two departments he led - the Department for Local Government and the Department of Education, and he said: "I think it's right that there should be, because the nature and scale of what the victims have endured means that there's an obligation on all of us who've been in any form of elected office to be honest and unsparing in looking at what went on." He said he "certainly didn't have the knowledge at my command that we now do about the widespread nature of this activity". 'Not nearly enough' progress made Sophy Ridge put to Lord Gove that despite commissioning a report on what was happening to girls in care, and not seeking to block the publication of Andrew Norfolk's reporting, he still failed to make change. He replied: "Yes, so it is undoubtedly the case that more should have been done." He admitted that it "absolutely" weighs on him, and that "not nearly enough" progress was made on the protection of vulnerable girls. "With the benefit of hindsight, I do wish that I had been more vehement in trying to persuade people to take appropriate action," he said. 1:36 Local government 'sought to deny scale' of scandal The now Spectator editor went on to say that there was "pushback, particularly but not exclusively, from those in local government" to subsequent questions about cultural background, and he said "local councillors and others sought to deny the scale of what was happening and particularly, sought to deny questioning about the identity and the background of the perpetrators". He continued: "I think the right thing to do is for everyone to acknowledge that sometimes there were people who were acting from noble motives, who did not want to increase ethnic and racial anxieties, who did not to fan far-right flames, and thought that it was better to step away from the really grim reality of what was going on. "I can understand that. But ultimately, that didn't serve anyone. It did not serve the victims."
Telegraph
a day ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Michael Gove: Whitehall officials tried to suppress grooming gangs scandal
Lord Gove has claimed that Whitehall officials tried to suppress details of the grooming gangs scandal. The former Cabinet minister said he overruled government and council officials who were seeking to block the publication of information about a victim in Rotherham. As the then education secretary, he said he rejected the attempted legal action on the basis that it was better to tell 'the truth'. Lord Gove also warned that the proposed structure of a new national inquiry into the scandal might limit its ability to scrutinise the failings of police and government at a national level. His comments, made on GB News, come days after the publication of a report by Baroness Casey which found that police and councils avoided pursuing child sex grooming gangs for fear of being viewed as racist. Even though there was evidence that a disproportionate number of Asian men had been responsible in such cases, their role was covered up by successive governments and authorities over concerns about raising community tensions, the review concluded. Lord Gove recalled a request by Rotherham council to block an investigation by Andrew Norfolk, a reporter for The Times newspaper, into the scandal in 2011 by mounting a legal challenge against his attempt to publish details of a 'particularly tragic case'. He said he had examined the material alongside Dominic Cummings, who was working in the Department for Education at the time, and some other staff. 'We contacted Rotherham council, and we said: 'Yes, we will intervene in this case, but on behalf of The Times, because it's absolutely vital that the truth be told',' Lord Gove said. 'It was absolutely the case that there were those who thought that it was appropriate for us not to intervene. 'So the documents in question revealed some details about one particular victim, and it was argued by the council, and by some officials who were sympathetic to their case, that revealing everything about the case might mean that other potential victims, other family members, might be adversely affected. 'And there was also an argument that the council itself was making improvements, and that as a result of these improvements being made, that would be imperilled potentially if there were adverse publicity. 'I think those arguments were made in good faith, but my view, Dominic Cummings's view, was that it was far more important that we told the truth.' He said he adopted the same approach to serious case reviews into the failings of councils, which were heavily censored until he intervened to require 'the greatest possible transparency'. Lord Gove said a proposed national inquiry into the scandal should be 'much more than what it might appear to be at the moment'. 'It appears that the Government may default and make the national inquiry simply a sort of umbrella for lots of specific local inquiries,' he said. 'There are as many as 50 towns and cities across the country in which these gangs have operated or continue to operate, there are failures in policing at a national level that need to be addressed. It is also the case that decisions made within the Home Office and other government departments do need to be scrutinised.' He added: 'One of the things about this whole story, right from the very beginning, has been that there have been people who, for admittedly noble reasons, because they didn't want to see the details being exploited by the very far-Right, have tried to manage the information.'
Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Times
‘Whitehall tried to block Rotherham grooming scandal exposé'
Whitehall officials attempted to convince Michael Gove to go to court to stop The Times from exposing the Rotherham grooming scandal, Dominic Cummings has said. Gove, then the education secretary and who is now Lord Gove, is said to have been asked by officials to help Rotherham council stop the publication of a story about the sexual abuse and trafficking of children in the town in 2011. Cummings, who worked as an adviser to Gove during his tenure in the education department, told Sky News that officials wanted 'a total cover-up and were on the side of the council'. He said they contacted him after the council was approached by Andrew Norfolk, then the chief reporter of The Times. He said: 'Officials came to me in the Department of Education and said: 'There's this Times journalist who wants to write the story about these gangs. The local authority wants to judicially review it and stop The Times publishing the story'. 'So I went to Michael Gove and said: 'This council is trying to actually stop this and they're going to use judicial review. You should tell the council that far from siding with the council to stop The Times you will write to the judge and hand over a whole bunch of documents and actually blow up the council's JR [judicial review].'' Cummings added: 'Some officials wanted a total cover-up and were on the side of the council… They wanted to help the local council do the cover-up and stop The Times' reporting, but other officials, including in the DfE private office, said this is completely outrageous and we should blow it up. Gove did, the judicial review got blown up, Norfolk's stories ran.' • In June 2012 The Times revealed that an official report into the way care agencies dealt with a murdered girl concealed key information about adults suspected of grooming and using her for sex from the age of 12. Laura Wilson, 17, was repeatedly stabbed then thrown into a South Yorkshire canal in 2010, six years after concerns were raised that she was at risk of being sexually exploited by men. A safeguarding board redacted information identifying Laura as one of several girls in Rotherham who were suspected of falling victim to sexual abuse by Asian men. Also kept hidden were details of care professionals' involvement with Laura from the age of 11 to 15, including meetings that discussed concerns about child sexual exploitation. The board's application for a High Court injunction to gag The Times was dropped after Gove accused the board of withholding 'relevant and important material'. Laura, identified in the report as 'Child S', was murdered in Rotherham by Ashtiaq Asghar, 17. Ishaq Hussain, 21, a married man who impregnated her a month after her 16th birthday, was found not guilty of murder. The report, published by Rotherham's safeguarding children board, found that 15 agencies had had dealings with Laura. It identified 'numerous missed opportunities' to protect a vulnerable child who became 'almost invisible' to some care professionals. Redactions were made to 61 of the report's 144 pages, ostensibly to protect 'the privacy and welfare' of the dead girl's baby. Hidden from view was the fact that Laura 'was mentioned' during a 2009 police inquiry that led to the conviction of five British Pakistanis, aged from 20 to 30, for sex offences against three girls aged 13 to 16. A spokesman for Rotherham council said: 'There were clear failings at that time in Rotherham in relation to child sexual exploitation as fully covered in the reports by Alexis Jay and Louise Casey. 'Since then, Rotherham council's children's services have been transformed and as Baroness Casey reports Rotherham today is a completely different council . We will never again be complacent and we will continue to pursue the highest standards of protection and support for our children and young people.' A government spokesman said: 'The grooming scandal is one of the most appalling failures in our country's history and this government is taking the action needed for vulnerable people who were let down time and time again. That includes setting up a new national inquiry that will end the blame shifting apathy towards victims and a nationwide police operation to target predators to ensure we are tackling this vile crime while supporting survivors.'
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Was there a Whitehall cover-up of the grooming gangs scandal?
👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, according to Dominic Cummings, who was working for him at the time. In an interview with Sky's political correspondent Liz Bates, Mr Cummings has revealed how officials in the Department for Education wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal. On the Sky News Daily, Mark Austin speaks to Liz Bates about the scandal and what Mr Cummings told her.
Sky News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Whitehall officials tried to cover up grooming scandal in 2011, Dominic Cummings says
Whitehall officials tried to convince Michael Gove to go to court to cover up the grooming scandal in 2011, Sky News can reveal. Dominic Cummings, who was working for Lord Gove at the time, has told Sky News that officials in the Department for Education (DfE) wanted to help efforts by Rotherham Council to stop a national newspaper from exposing the scandal. In an interview with Sky News, Mr Cummings said that officials wanted a "total cover-up". The revelation shines a light on the institutional reluctance of some key officials in central government to publicly highlight the grooming gang scandal. In 2011, Rotherham Council approached the Department for Education asking for help following inquiries by The Times. The paper's then chief reporter, the late Andrew Norfolk, was asking about sexual abuse and trafficking of children in Rotherham. The council went to Lord Gove's Department for Education for help. Officials considered the request and then recommended to Lord Gove's office that the minister back a judicial review which might, if successful, stop The Times publishing the story. Lord Gove rejected the request on the advice of Mr Cummings. Sources have independently confirmed Mr Cummings' account. Mr Cummings told Sky News: "Officials came to me in the Department of Education and said: 'There's this Times journalist who wants to write the story about these gangs. The local authority wants to judicially review it and stop The Times publishing the story'. "So I went to Michael Gove and said: 'This council is trying to actually stop this and they're going to use judicial review. You should tell the council that far from siding with the council to stop The Times you will write to the judge and hand over a whole bunch of documents and actually blow up the council's JR (judicial review).' "Some officials wanted a total cover-up and were on the side of the council... "They wanted to help the local council do the cover-up and stop The Times' reporting, but other officials, including in the DfE private office, said this is completely outrageous and we should blow it up. Gove did, the judicial review got blown up, Norfolk stories ran." 3:18 The judicial review wanted by officials would have asked a judge to decide about the lawfulness of The Times' publication plans and the consequences that would flow from this information entering the public domain. A second source told Sky News that the advice from officials was to side with Rotherham Council and its attempts to stop publication of details it did not want in the public domain. One of the motivations cited for stopping publication would be to prevent the identities of abused children entering the public domain. There was also a fear that publication could set back the existing attempts to halt the scandal, although incidents of abuse continued for many years after these cases. Sources suggested that there is also a natural risk aversion amongst officials to publicity of this sort. Mr Cummings, who ran the Vote Leave Brexit campaign and was Boris Johnson's right-hand man in Downing Street, has long pushed for a national inquiry into grooming gangs to expose failures at the heart of government. He said the inquiry, announced today, "will be a total s**tshow for Whitehall because it will reveal how much Whitehall worked to try and cover up the whole thing." He also described Mr Johnson, with whom he has a long-standing animus, as a "moron' for saying that money spent on inquiries into historic child sexual abuse had been "spaffed up the wall". Asked by Sky News political correspondent Liz Bates why he had not pushed for a public inquiry himself when he worked in Number 10 in 2019-20, Mr Cummings said Brexit and then COVID had taken precedence. "There are a million things that I wanted to do but in 2019 we were dealing with the constitutional crisis," he said.
